As many as 54,483 cyber security incidents such as phishing, spam and malicious code have been reported in the current financial year, Parliament was informed Wednesday.

These incidents were reported to the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) by various Indian organisations, individuals and agencies from other countries, Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

The area of information technology (IT) is characterised by rapid developments and fast changing obsolescence, Prasad said, adding that "with every IT product introduced into the market, newer vulnerabilities are discovered, leaving scope for malicious actions".

He said however that CERT-In does not maintain any separate data with regard to the losses incurred by the Indian companies due to cyber attacks. The minister said the government has taken various steps to curb cyber attacks.